Coaching, Learning and Development

In FY14, we expanded our Coach Connect Program across all our lines of service. Coach Connect focuses on helping our people understand and be better able to coach to our business priorities, while improving the impact of their coaching. The program does this by offering strategy updates, tools and skill development sessions to all of our coaches. As a result of Coach Connect, we saw an increase in positive responses to key Global People Survey questions, including “I understand how my objectives relate to my business unit’s strategy.” In FY15, our external coaching strategy continued to be well received – with over 200 partners receiving external coaching to further their personal and professional growth and development goals. In FY14 we also increased the number of formal partner development programs that were supported by specialized external coaching, which further enhanced the transfer of knowledge from the classroom to our day-to-day work environment.

In FY15 coaching will continue to be a significant priority for the firm. All lines of service will continue to use our Coach Connect program to facilitate individual development and drive our business strategy. Based on priorities identified by our people, we will focus our efforts on developing the ability of our coaches to coach virtually and to coach multigenerational employees. We will also provide tools and techniques so that coaches can provide coaching on sales success in addition to career coaching. We will also continue to monitor the impact of our external coaching strategy, so that we can enhance our support for the program as appropriate.

Encouraging global mobility
In FY14, we continued our efforts to provide international assignment opportunities for our people in a wide range of locations across the globe. As a part of our Global Mobility program, we look to match our high performing talent with opportunities that allow them to connect with people, build new skills and broaden their perspective on the global business environment. Through a variety of short-term and long-term secondments, we help develop our key talent while at the same time, meeting resourcing and project needs across countries. In FY14, 220 members of our Canadian workforce participated in a Global Mobility secondment.

Promoting Enhanced Working Practices (EWP) and experiential learning
Our EWP program empowers our people to learn within the context of their day-to-day work. Incorporating structured learning routines into our working practices (e.g. job shadowing), provides us with opportunities to accelerate employee development on the job in a supportive environment. Also, EWP leads to increased accountability and a feeling of project ownership among team members while deepening trust and confidence across the team. In FY13 we worked to expand EWP across our firm, while in FY14 we accomplished our goal of establishing EWP across all of our lines of service. EWP practices are now embedded into our formal learning programs, expanding learning into our everyday activities and work.

During FY14, we actively branded EWP as our approach to on-the-job coaching. We’ve also embedded EWP into other key people processes, such as recruitment, on-boarding and performance management. In FY15, we’ll continue to focus on EWP as a way to accelerate the development of our people so that they are able to deliver distinctive client and people experiences.